Few saw it coming but many helplessly watched on as Team Uganda was relegated from the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division Three tournament.
Not even home advantage came to count as the Cricket Cranes surrendered to drop the fourth tier of global limited-overs cricket after losing by 13 runs to USA on Monday in Entebbe.
That day - May 29 - will forever remain highlighted on the calendars of cricket fanatics after Uganda hit a new low. Since the WCL came to life a decade ago, the East African nation had never gone below the WCL Division Three.
But unavoidable pressure to deliver oozing from the home crowd coupled with below-par shifts left coach Steve Tikolo’s side on their knees.
“It is really disappointing,” Tikolo told this website after Uganda had finished with a 2-3 round-robin record, settling for fifth out six teams.
The hosts and bottom side Malaysia were relegated to WCL Division Four where they will face Denmark, Bermuda and two nations that will have been promoted from September’s WCL Division Five in South Africa.
Table toppers Oman and Canada earned promotion to the ICC WCL Division Two.
Singapore and USA, who pipped Uganda via the Net Run Rate for fourth, retain the WCL Division Three status.
And it is now a time for the nation to reflect much on what went wrong. Many are calling Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) to wield the axe on Tikolo while others are calling for Karashani and the batsmen’s withdraws from the team.
But Tikolo can afford to cut a forlorn figure after skipper Davis Karashani and company fashioned an irk brand of the gentleman’s game.
Considering Uganda had whitewashed Kenya 4-0 in the best of five Easter Series prior, it was a deceitful show
from the batsmen this time round.
Left-hand opener Arthur Kyobe had carried most of the stick having amassed only 37 runs from four innings – ranked eighth from bottom of the list containing whoever picked a bat at the week-long showpiece.
Kyobe and fellow opener Hamu Kayondo hardly shined, leaving the team desperate whenever they needed to set a big score or chase totals above 140 runs. “The hunger in the batsmen has been lacking,” Karashani told this website. “It is something we talked about all week.”
Perhaps, the stage got too big considering the wickets were spin-favouring and yet indigenous Ugandan batsmen flourish on pitches that welcome pace, at least according to Ugandan-born Canada tutor Henry Osinde.
In the past, Uganda has had fast pitches when hosting events like the 2011 and 2013 ICC Africa Twenty20 Championships. But this time, UCA Chief Curator Naseer Ahmed was asked to design spin wickets by the team.
It back fired terribly for the batsmen but worked for every player of Asian descent as they are natural masters at playing spin.
That explains why Pakistani-born Mohammed Irfan was Uganda’s best player with 172 runs from five innings.
That includes his lucky 71-ball 108* ton in the four-wicket victory over Malaysia on Saturday in Lugogo. Being a right-arm off-break bowler, the nephew to Shahid Afridi also picked nine wickets.
Another Pakistani-born Kamal Shahzad came second for the team with 128 runs and Roger Mukasa piled 122 runs.
The choice of spin worked for the spinners Karashani, Frank Nsubuga and Henry Ssenyondo but the seam bowlers like Charles Waiswa, Deus Muhumuza, Jonathan Ssebanja and Brian Masaba, who have sparkled for Uganda in past tournaments here, did not come to the party.
In the 2011 Africa T20s’, Muhumuza was best players with 18 wickets from nine matches. Let alone, Kyobe got 203 runs in nine innings on the pace-favouring wickets here.
All players in other teams with Asian backgrounds delivered. That’s the case for Oman who earned a third successive promotion under the guise of former Sri Lanka captain Duleep Mendis.
The nation from Arabian Peninsula is littered with quality players born in either India or Pakistan like captain Sultan Ahmed, Jatinder Singh, Khawar Ali among others.
Three-time World Cup finalists Canada returned to the WCL Division Two with Pakistani-born Rizwan Cheema taking home the Player of Series gong after piling 181 runs and picking six wickets.
Their teenager opener Bhavindu Adhihetty was best batsman with 222 runs from six innings.
2017 ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE DIVISION THREE
UGANDA’S COLLATED RESULTS
Canada 234/8 Uganda 168/10
(Canada won by 66 runs)
Uganda 217/9 Singapore 151/10
(Uganda won by 66 runs)
Uganda 144/10 Oman 145/4
(Oman won by 6 wickets)
Malaysia 189/10 Uganda 193/6
(Uganda won by 4 wickets)
USA 145/10 Uganda 132/10
(USA won by 13 runs)
FINAL TABLE STANDINGS
Team P W L T NR Pts NRR
Oman 5 4 1 0 0 8 +1.238
Canada 5 3 2 0 0 6 +0.817
Singapore 5 3 2 0 0 6 -0.410
USA 5 3 2 0 0 6 -0.127
Uganda 5 2 3 0 0 4 -0.205
Malaysia 5 1 4 0 0 2 -1.286
UGANDA’S NUMBERS
BEST BATSMEN
Mohammed Irfan: 172 runs in 5 innings
Kamal Shahzad: 128 runs in 5 innings
Roger Mukasa: 122 runs in 5 innings
Arnold Otwani: 79 runs in 5 innings
Hamu Kayondo: 66 runs in 5 innings
Deus Muhumuza: 55 runs in 2 innings
Davis Karashani: 45 runs in 5 innings
Arthur Kyobe: 37 runs in 4 innings
Naeem Bardai: 32 runs in 1 innings
BEST BOWLERS
Mohammed Irfan: 9 wkts for 171 runs (42 overs)
Frank Nsubuga: 8 wkts for 179 runs (46 overs)
Henry Ssenyondo: 6 wkts for 161 runs (45 overs)
Davis Karashani: 5 wkts for 113 runs (31 overs)
Roger Mukasa: 4 wkts for 48 runs (12 overs)
Charles Waiswa: 2 wkts for 66 runs (13 overs)
Brian Masaba: 1 wkt for 23 runs (10 overs)
Jonathan Ssebanja: 1 wkt for 53 runs (11.5 overs)
Deus Muhumuza: 0 wkt for 25 runs (2 overs)
SIXES: 19
FOURS: 54
MAIDENS: 31
This writer is a scribe with Daily Monitor Newspaper and, also a sports presenter with NBS Television and Radio One FM 90 in Kampala. Follow him on Twitter: @AllanDarren and his Facebook Page: Darren Allan Kyeyune
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